Author(s)

Ronpichai Chokesuwattanaskul^1,2,3, Abdul Rahman Safadi³, Randy Ip³, Harsimran Kaur Waraich³, Olivia Madison Hudson³, John H. Ip³

¹Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand.
²King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok, Thailand.
³Michigan State University, Sparrow Hospital, Lansing, MI, USA.

Background: The Implantable Cardiac Monitor (ICM) is an invaluable tool for detecting cardiac arrhythmias by providing physicians. Critical to the success of ICMs depends on how quickly and accurately the data can be transmitted to a physician’s office after an arrhythmic event. Then, the clinical event can be analyzed and the treatment will be provided accordingly. However, no reports have been published as to how efficiently the ICM data is transmitted. Methods: There is a retrospective review of 520 patients who received a Medtronic Reveal LINQ^TM between 2/01/2015 and 6/01/2017. The time from the arrhythmic event to the time of physician notification was calculated and reason for delay was noted. Results: One hundred and twenty patients out of 520 patients (23%) had arrhythmic events transmitted over a mean follow up of 14 ± 4 months. The mean time between cardiac events and physician notification was 15 ± 8 days. Sixty-three percent (63%) of data transmission delay (defined as >24 hours) was due to the MyCareLink^TM Monitor not being in proximity to the patient. Connection failure between the monitor and the network accounted for 34% of data transmission delay. Conclusion: Significant delay in data transmission from Medtronic Reveal LINQ^TM cardiac monitor occurs frequently impacting patient care. Newer generations of the implantable cardiac monitors utilize Bluetooth technology, enabling immediate transfer of data from ICM to a patient’s cellular phone and subsequently to their physician’s office. This technology could potentially improve efficiency and reliability eliminating the issues of proximity and connectivity.

Connectivity Problems, Implantable Cardiac Monitor, Reveal LINQ, Transmission

Chokesuwattanaskul, R. , Safadi, A. , Ip, R. , Waraich, H. , Hudson, O. and Ip, J. (2019) Data Transmission Delay in Medtronic Reveal LINQ^TM Implantable Cardiac Monitor: Clinical Experience in 520 Patients. Journal of Biomedical Science and Engineering, 12, 391-399. doi: 10.4236/jbise.2019.128030.